"year, in 1974, while on a tour in Canada, Mikhail Baryshnikov defected and requested political asylum in Toronto and joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in a version of ""La Sylphide"". National Ballet of Canada One of the top international ballet companies, The National Ballet of Canada was founded in 1951 by Celia Franca. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led by Artistc Director Karen Kain, one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation,"
"""the most perfect dancer I have ever seen."" On June 29, 1974, while on tour in Canada with the Mariinsky Ballet, Baryshnikov defected, requesting political asylum in Toronto, and joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He also announced to the dance world that he would not go back to the USSR. He later stated that Christina Berlin, an American friend, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in ""La Sylphide"". He then went on to the United States. In"
"Alexander Godunov Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: ; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. He was a member of the Bolshoi Ballet and became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. Soviet overseers for the troupe immediately put his wife on a flight back to the Soviet Union. Initially the United States did not allow the flight to leave, resulting in a diplomatic incident between the two nations. Godunov was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR), in the Russian Far East. Godunov began his ballet studies"
"Boris Volkoff Boris Vladimirovich Volkoff, (born Boris Vladimirovich Baskakoff; April 24, 1900 – March 11, 1974) was a Canadian-Russian ballet dancer, director, choreographer and ballet master. After studying dance in Warsaw and Moscow he defected from Russia and eventually settled in Toronto. He created the Boris Volkoff School of Dance which trained ballet dancers, and the Boris Volkoff Ballet Company which is arguably considered the first ballet company in Canada. He gave his dancers and studio to the National Ballet of Canada to raise the profile of Canadian ballet. He regretted this decision and attempted to revive his company which"
"Nora Kovach Nora Kovach (13 June 1931 – 18 January 2009) was a Hungarian ballerina who defected in 1953 together with her husband and fellow ballet dancer Istvan Rabovsky, the first highly publicized defection of individuals in the field of dance to the West from the Soviet bloc. Kovach was raised in Budapest, and was trained as a dancer at the schools of the Budapest Opera Ballet and of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. As the leading dancers of the Budapest State Opera, Kovach and Rabovsky were sent on tour in May 1953 to East Berlin. With the Cold War"
"Pierre Vladimiroff Pierre Vladimiroff, or Pyotr Nikolayevich Vladimirov (; born February 13, 1893 in Gatchina, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire – died November 25, 1970 in New York City, United States), was a Russian dancer and teacher. Vladimirov graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in 1911 and remained a member of the Imperial Ballet company until 1918. In 1915, he received the title of the first dancer. In 1920, he and his later wife Felia Doubrovska emigrated to the West, where they joined the Ballets Russes; all roles of Vaslav Nijinsky went to Pierre Vladimiroff (Nijinsky left the Diaghilev company"
"body was discovered. Godunov's death was determined to be due to complications from hepatitis secondary to chronic alcoholism. Following his death Godunov's ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A memorial to him at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the epitaph ""His future remained in the past."" Alexander Godunov Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: ; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. He was a member of the Bolshoi Ballet and became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. Soviet overseers for the troupe immediately"
"of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and then returned to France, where he died at age 77. Nicolas Zverev Nicolas Zverev (or Zvereff ; ; 1888, Moscow - 24 July 1965 Saint-Raphaël) was a Russian-French dancer and ballet master. He studied at the Moscow ballet class at the theatre school of the Moscow Imperial troupe. In 1912 he was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to his troupe Ballets russes. Zverev participated in the Ballets russes from 1912 or 1913 to 1926. Among his roles were Slave (""Scheherazade"", Michel Fokine’s ballet), Cossack Chief (La Boutique fantasque, 1919), one of the men"
"Nicholas Sergeyev Nicholas Grigoryevich Sergeyev (1876–1951) (, variously written in the Latin alphabet as Nicholas or Nikolai Sergeev, Sergueev or Sergueeff etc.) was a Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher, and regisseur of the Imperial Ballet at the Maryinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. He fled Russia in 1919 and spent the rest of his life in the west, producing ballets for many of the leading western companies of the time. He is remembered for preserving what is now called the Sergeyev Collection for future generations. <br> Sergeyev was born September 15, 1876 in St Petersburg. He was accepted for training by"
"; New York, NY : Zeitgeist Films, ©2006). Alexandra Denisova Alexandra Denisova (; born 1922 or 1923), real name Patricia Denise Meyers Galian, is a Canadian ballerina. Born in Canada, she started taking classical ballet lessons in childhood. After the October Revolution, many artistic and cultural professionals, including ballet dancers and choreographers, emigrated from Russia, bringing with them the typical Russian forms of ballet, which was developing mostly independently from the Western trends since the 19th century and followed classic forms long abandoned in the West. As the Russian ballet enjoyed great popularity in the West, these emigrants were always"
"Russia and went to Shanghai. He joined the Shanghai Variety Ballet and toured with Russian expatriates to various Asian countries and the United States. He danced with Adolph Bolm's company until his visa expired and Volkoff was smuggled into Canada in 1929. He became ballet master at Jack Arthur's Uptown Theatre in Toronto and choreographed short dances that were performed between films. It was during this time that he decided to use Volkoff as his stage name. In 1930 Volkoff opened the Boris Volkoff School of Dance, which operated until 1974. In 1932 he created ice ballet versions of Swan"
"and two stepchildren. Nora Kovach Nora Kovach (13 June 1931 – 18 January 2009) was a Hungarian ballerina who defected in 1953 together with her husband and fellow ballet dancer Istvan Rabovsky, the first highly publicized defection of individuals in the field of dance to the West from the Soviet bloc. Kovach was raised in Budapest, and was trained as a dancer at the schools of the Budapest Opera Ballet and of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. As the leading dancers of the Budapest State Opera, Kovach and Rabovsky were sent on tour in May 1953 to East Berlin. With"
"Norbert Vesak Norbert Vesak (October 22, 1936 – October 2, 1990), one of Canada's leading choreographers in the 1970s, was a ballet dancer, choreographer, theatrical director, master teacher, dance columnist, lecturer, and opera ballet director, known for his unique, flamboyant style and his multimedia approach to classical and contemporary choreography. He is credited with helping to bring modern dance to Western Canada. Although Vesak worked internationally as a choreographer, he was frequently referred to as ""Canada's finest male dancer."" Early in his career, he often choreographed works and then danced in them as well, receiving critical acclaim for both roles."
"Alla Sizova Alla Sizova (22 September 1939 – 23 November 2014) was a Russian ballet dancer, best known for her work with the Kirov Ballet. She was one of the four superstar ballerinas of the Soviet Union along with Natalia Makarova, Alla Osipenko and Irina Kolpakova, as well as the preferred dance partner of Rudolph Nureyev before his defection. Alla Ivanovna Sizova was born in Moscow on 22 September 1939. Her parents were Ivan and Ekaterina Sizov. The family moved to Leningrad shortly after her birth. During the Second World War, she was evacuated to the Urals with her mother"
"the Imperial Ballet School and he graduated and joined the company in 1894. He was promoted to soloist and régisseur in 1904 and régisseur-général in 1914. He was thus the last ever régisseur-général of the Imperial Ballet.<br> In 1919 he and his wife fled Russia, as did many Russian ballet professionals after the Bolshevik revolution. It was a hazardous journey and the last leg was from Riga on a British warship. He was not the only one the Royal Navy helped to escape. Tamara Karsavina escaped from Murmansk with her husband, the British diplomat Henry James Bruce, with the aid"
"George Zoritch George Zoritch (6 June 1917 – 1 November 2009), was a Russian-born American ballet dancer who starred in performances by Ballet Russe companies on stages all over the United States from the 1930s to the 1960s. Internationally known, he was one of the most glamorous figures and striking personalities in mid-twentieth-century ballet. Born Yuri Zoritch in Moscow during the Russian Revolution in June 1917, he was taken by his mother, an opera singer who had been deserted by her husband, to the quieter city of Kovno (Kaunas), the provisional capital of Lithuania. Known as ""Little Paris"" because of"
"Aleksey Yermolayev Aleksey Nikolayevich Yermolayev (Russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич Ермола́ев; 12 December 1975) was a Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher. He played an important role in the development of Russian ballet between 1950 and 1975, and he was considered an outstanding actor. Aleksey Yermolayev was born in Saint Petersburg in 1910 (the name of the city was changed to Petrograd in 1914 and to Leningrad in 1924). At the Leningrad Choreographic School he completed the required eight years of training in only five years, graduating in 1926, aged only 16; his teacher there was Vladimir Ponomaryov. He sent four years"
"the United States and Canada for 24 weeks with a revival of the Broadway musical ""The King and I"". A feature film about his life is to be released in 2019 under the title ""The White Crow."" Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( , ; 17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Soviet ballet and contemporary dancer and choreographer. He was director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989 and its chief choreographer until October 1992. Named Lord of the Dance, Nureyev is widely regarded as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation. In addition"
"Alexandra Denisova Alexandra Denisova (; born 1922 or 1923), real name Patricia Denise Meyers Galian, is a Canadian ballerina. Born in Canada, she started taking classical ballet lessons in childhood. After the October Revolution, many artistic and cultural professionals, including ballet dancers and choreographers, emigrated from Russia, bringing with them the typical Russian forms of ballet, which was developing mostly independently from the Western trends since the 19th century and followed classic forms long abandoned in the West. As the Russian ballet enjoyed great popularity in the West, these emigrants were always in great demand. It is due to this"
"Nicolas Zverev Nicolas Zverev (or Zvereff ; ; 1888, Moscow - 24 July 1965 Saint-Raphaël) was a Russian-French dancer and ballet master. He studied at the Moscow ballet class at the theatre school of the Moscow Imperial troupe. In 1912 he was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to his troupe Ballets russes. Zverev participated in the Ballets russes from 1912 or 1913 to 1926. Among his roles were Slave (""Scheherazade"", Michel Fokine’s ballet), Cossack Chief (La Boutique fantasque, 1919), one of the men (Les biches, 1924) etc. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Zverev could not return to Russia. He continued"
"""Legend of Love"" (1961). In 1961, while Osipenko was on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Paris, one of her main dance partners, Rudolf Nureyev defected to the west on her 29th birthday. Osipenko, who was not a Communist Party member, was under considerable suspicion by the KGB upon her return to the Soviet Union who believed she might have known about the defection ahead of time (she didn't). She had a rocky relationship with the Kirov for much of the 1960s and Osipenko left the Kirov in 1971. From 1971 to 1973 she was a soloist of the troupe"
"Alexander Grant (dancer) Alexander Grant (22 February 1925 – 30 September 2011) was a New Zealand ballet dancer, teacher, and company director. After moving to London as a young man, he became known as ""the Royal Ballet's most remarkable actor-dancer in its golden period from the 1940s to the 1960s."" Alexander Marshall Grant was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of hoteliers, during the prosperous 1920s. He resolved to become a professional dancer at the age of six, when he was taught to perform a simple folk dance, a Ukrainian ""trepak"", and discovered the joy of performing. He began"
"ended in failure. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 1973, one year before his death. Volkoff, birth name Boris Vladimirovich Baskakoff, was born on April 24, 1900, in Schepotievo, Russia. When he was nine Volkoff joined his brother Igor in Warsaw to dance and perform for the Russian Army. He alternated between using this birth name and performing using the last name Volkoff, his mother's family name. Volkoff attended the Moscow State Academy of Choreography and later danced with Mordkin Ballet and the Moscow State Youth Ballet. During a Siberian tour Volkoff defected from"
"the post-Diaghilev days. Four years later, in 2009, he was hospitalized after a fall in his home in Tucson. He died in November, at age 92, beloved by former colleagues and students alike. George Zoritch George Zoritch (6 June 1917 – 1 November 2009), was a Russian-born American ballet dancer who starred in performances by Ballet Russe companies on stages all over the United States from the 1930s to the 1960s. Internationally known, he was one of the most glamorous figures and striking personalities in mid-twentieth-century ballet. Born Yuri Zoritch in Moscow during the Russian Revolution in June 1917, he"
"Theodore Kosloff Theodore Kosloff (; Fyodor Mikhailovich Kozlov; January 22, 1882 – November 22, 1956) was a Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer, and film and stage actor. He was occasionally credited as Theodor Kosloff. Born in Moscow in 1882, Kosloff began his professional ballet career after training at Moscow's Imperial Theater. After graduating in 1901, he began touring internationally with the Diaghilev Ballet Company which he had joined in 1909. While touring with the company, Kosloff began a romantic relationship with fellow company member, the American future set-designer and Mrs. Rudolph Valentino, Natacha Rambova. The affair however, was brief and allegedly"
"Russian dancer Kira Bousloff. In 1975 he moved to the north coast of New South Wales. He founded the School of Arts at Southern Cross University. He died there in 1999. He wrote prolifically in many genres, but is best known for his 22 ballets and 11 operas. His best known works are ""The Beach Inspector and the Mermaid"" and ""Ophelia of the Nine Mile Beach"". Many of his works have Australian Indigenous connections: the ballets ""Euroka"" (1947), ""Brolga"" (1949), ""Boomerang"" (1951), ""The Whirlwind"" (1954) and ""Kooree and the Mists"" (1960) are all based on Aboriginal legends, with ""Kooree and"
"on 19 February 2008, he was offered the opportunity to return to the Bolshoi again in the capacity of ballet master and choreographer. Yury Grigorovich Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich (; born 2 January 1927 in Leningrad), HSL, PAU, is a Soviet and Russian dancer and choreographer who dominated the Russian ballet for 30 years. Grigorovich was born into a family connected with the Imperial Russian Ballet. He graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1946 and danced as a soloist of the Kirov Ballet until 1962. His staging of Sergey Prokofiev's ""The Stone Flower"" (1957) and of ""The Legend of Love"""
"survived by his wife, two daughters and a granddaughter. Ivan Nagy (dancer) Ivan Nagy (28 April 194322 February 2014) was a Hungarian ballet dancer. He became one of American Ballet Theatre's most popular stars in the 1970s as an acclaimed partner to great ballerinas. Nagy was born in Debrecen, Hungary on 28 April 1943. He was trained in Budapest by Soviet-influenced teachers before he defected to the United States in 1965. He was sent to the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, where he won a silver medal. Nagy met his wife, the Australian ballerina Marilyn Burr, at the National"
"Serge Lifar Serge Lifar (, ""Serhіy Mуkhailovуch Lуfar""; , ""Sergey Mikhaylovich Lifar"") (, Kiev, Russian Empire15 December 1986, Lausanne, Switzerland) was a French ballet dancer and choreographer of Ukrainian origin, famous as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. Not only a dancer, Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector. As ballet master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and from 1947 to 1958, he devoted himself to the restoration of the technical level of the Paris Opera Ballet, returning it to its place as one of the best"
"at the 'Ecole de Mouvement' she had founded in Kiev following the Russian revolution. He, too, had left Russia. They met again as exiles in Monte Carlo. He became associated with Ballets Russes as a dancer. They were married in 1924. During their four decades together, he often worked in production and management, acting as her business partner in staging her various ballet productions and other projects. In America he also translated for her, especially when she taught at the ballet studio. He died in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, four years before her. Bronislava Nijinska died on February 21,"
"Boris Knyazev Boris Knyazev (1 July 1900 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – 7 October 1975 in Paris) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. Boris Knyazev was born July 1, 1900, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. He studied at the St. Petersburg Theater School from 1914 to 1917, class of Kasyan Goleizovsky and Mikhail Mordkin. He left Russia after The 1917 Revolution. At first he lived in Bulgaria, then in 1924 he moved to Paris. He was married to the ballerina Olga Spesivtseva. Together, they opened a ballet studio, but after some time they parted. In 1937 he opened his"
"Igor Youskevitch Igor Youskevitch (, ) (13 March 1912 – 13 June 1994) was a ballet dancer and a choreographer of Russian-Ukrainian origin, famous as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century, as a master of the classic style, e.g., in ""Afternoon of a Faun"", and as a dance partner to Alicia Alonso. Born in the village of Pyriatyn, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine (then part of Imperial Russia), Youskevitch was the son of a judge. The family fled the Russian Revolution and in 1920 settled in Belgrade. Youskevitch was educated in Belgrade and graduated with a degree"
"Harlem, the Dutch National Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Folklorico of Mexico, and Kirov and the Bolshoi. It was during a 1974 Bolshoi visit that a young Mikhail Baryshnikov, on loan from the Kirov, bolted from the Centre's stage door, down The Esplanade and into a waiting getaway car, aided by later PC Jim Peterson and businessman Tim Stewart. (This door was removed during renovation work ending in 2010.) Like The National Ballet, The Canadian Opera Company also made the Centre its home stage, from as early as 1961 to 2006. Many of"